Ajanta Caves / 7 Nov 09

Our entire day today is devoted to visiting the Buddhist caves of Ajanta. We drove 2 ½ hours (approx. 100 kms) to Ajanta. When we arrived, once again it was curious there were no other foreign visitors anywhere in sight. To reduce the amount of automobile and scooter fumes reaching the caves, all vehicles have to park at a central area and take a bus to the caves entry point. All of the other passengers were Indian. Where are tourists? Why aren’t they coming to see these incredible sights? I can’t figure it out.

The Ajanta cave site is along the walls of a horseshoe shaped bend in a river. The caves are carved into volcanic rock and below them is a drop descending 250 ft into a ravine. They are 30 caves in all created between 2^nd c BC and 4^th c AD (earlier than Ellora) and were created as retreats for Buddhist monks during the rainy season. These caves were completely lost for 100 years and rediscovered in 1819.

Although I’d seen pictures, I hadn’t expected the sight to be as beautiful as it was. We sat outside at the entrance for about an hour while Mamod gave us an orientation to Ajanta. Because of the fragility of the paintings inside each cave, you are only allowed a certain number of minutes to visit each. So getting a debrief beforehand is a good idea.

We learned about the 10 qualities that painting was expected to have at the time these paintings were created (form, proportion, similarity, emotion, etc.) and about the materials used to paint them (only six pigments in milk-based tempera).

Then we climbed a series of stairs to reach the caves themselves. Our first visit was to Cave #1, a Mahayana monastery that dates to the end of the 5^th century. Our guide explained that this cave contained some of the most beautiful paintings at Ajanta and he spent time pointing out with his flashlight important scenes and interpreting them for us. Of course no photography with flash is permitted anywhere at Ajanta so we struggled to find settings that would enable us to capture the exquisitely painted figures.

Next to Cave #10, a Hinayana Buddhist Chaitya, dating to 2^nd c BC. We saw paintings of royal personage with their soldiers, dancers and musicians. Women wore exquisite clothing and jewelry and coiffures. There were complicated scenes from the Jataka Tales that Mamod interpreted. Not only are the Jataka tales complicated to follow, but also the painters of these scenes did not follow any linear mode of storytelling, so scenes that are chronologically related are not shown near each other. Mamod explained that the viewer would have already known the story and would have looked around to locate the scenes.

In Cave #17, a Mahayana monastery, also called the zodiac cave dating from 5^th c AD, we saw perhaps the most famous painting of all – the Flying Apsara – a beautiful woman with pearls and precious stones on her head and dripping from her neck. This cave is renowned for its magnificent paintings and again we spent time discussing stories and enjoying beautifully rendered scenes.

Cave #19, a small chaitya dating from 5^th c AD, has been called a sculptor’s “treasure chest”. It reminded us somewhat of the wonderful chaitya at Ellora, but this one contained far more sculpture. The most famous sculpture at Ajanta is in this cave. It is the image of the reclining Buddha (the depiction of the Buddha at moment of his death, about to be released from the cycle of death and rebirth).

The afternoon was getting late and we all hated to leave this beautiful place. I followed Mamod down a different path than the one we’d entered on; we walked along the river and through trees on a much cooler route back to the entry point. He plucked leaves from a large ficus tree (aka the Bodhi Tree; the tree under which the Buddha sat to attain enlightenment) and gave one to each of us.

Our ride was again 2 ½ hours back to Aurangabad. We packed up to fly tomorrow to the beach resort of Goa. I'm so happy that we came to Ellora and Ajanta and would highly recommend this visit to anyone. It was magnificent.

Ellora / 6 Nov 09

Had a 4am wake-up call in order to leave the hotel at 5am for an hour drive to the airport. Departed at 7am and arrived in Aurangabad at 8:15. Transferred to our beautiful hotel, the Taj Residency. This hotel is so tranquil that I’d love to stay here for several days although there’s no reason to be in Aurangabad other than use it as a launching pad for day trips to Ellora and Ajanta, which is why we’re here. Our rooms are down a long open corridor with bougainvilleas on one side and a huge beautiful pool on the other (our room looks out at the pool), very reminiscent of the Caribbean, and they are so far from the lobby that it seems like a 15 minute walk to reach them.

After check in we returned excitedly to the van for our afternoon at Ellora. Ellora is 18 miles from Aurangabad. Getting to Ellora and Ajanta has been a dream for me (as was getting to Borodudur in Indonesia) since taking a class on Buddhist Art several years ago. When I heard the explanation of how they were created I was simply amazed. I never thought I’d ever see them.

But suddenly there I was at one of the world’s most spectacular places – the “caves” of Ellora, a misnomer because many are not caves at all. They are either “cut-out monoliths” or “cut-in monoliths”. The first means that temples were cut down from above into the rock, the second mean that temples were cut in from the front of the rock.

The “cut out monoliths” are completely amazing feats of human imagination and engineering. Someone conceived a temple in three-dimensions and then figured out how cut down into rock so that the temple was created in one piece without mistake. Our guide, Mamoud, was very effective in describing how the temples were created, the meaning of the carvings, the various religions represented (Jainism, Brahmanism and Buddhism) and informing us about the history of Ellora.

Our first visit was to Cave #32, known as Indra Sabha, Assembly Hall of Indra, king of the gods - what Mamod affectionately termed as our “appetizer”. This Jain monastery was built in 10-11^th century AD. Jain priests cannot eat meat. They can’t eat anything grown in (under) the ground. They cannot do anything that might kill a living being. They cannot walk outside after sunset for fear of accidentally killing a life.

Then on to our “main course” – the spectacular cave #16 - Shiva Temple Kailash. Mt. Kailash in the Himalayas is the mythical abode of Shiva. This is one of India’s most famous monuments. This vast temple is formed from one piece of rock and 3,000,000 cubic feet of rock were quarried to create it. The temple actually consists of three building connected by an overhead bridge. We walked around the lower level which is ringed by elephant carvings, then climbed inside one of the chambers to see beautiful elephant painted overhead (our day of paintings will be tomorrow at Ajanta). The entire structure reminded me of wedding cake because it was so richly carved on the sides and on top and I was eager to climb up on the hillside to get an overhead view. While we were touring we met a group of Indians, mostly women and children, who were eager to have their pictures taken with us. As coincidences will have it, we learned that they were tourists from Orissa (near Puri) and our guide explained that we had just returned from there. We took lots of pictures together, occasionally the women would hug one of us which was very sweet, and then waved to each other until parting.

For dessert, we entered the Buddhist chaitya, cave #10, from approx. 7^th c AD. I thought the following was interesting so I will quote from my guidebook: “This cave temple is dedicated to Vishwarkarma, the architect of the gods and the patron saint of many Indian artisans even today, but having no connection with the Buddhist pantheon. This commingling of concepts, which the Mahayana system initiated, resulted finally in the absorption of Buddhism in the current of Hindu thought and its virtual extinction in the land of its birth.” I quote this because we spent a lot of time discussing religion with Mamod and one of the puzzles is why did Buddhism, which arose in India, eventually disappear from India, and Hinduism, which preceded Buddhism, continue to flourish?

Mamod had us sit quietly at the base of the pillars, as Buddhist monks would have done. Be began to chant, sing really in a basso voice, and his voice reverberated beautifully throughout the chaitya. I can’t describe how beautiful it was; he went on for quite some time and I think all of us left having had a very special experience.

As we walked back toward our van I noticed the beginning of the pathway leading up above the Kailash temple. Cliff was game to go, so we climbed to the top with Mamod who knew exactly the right spots to stop along the way for photos.

The views were extraordinary. In fact this has to be my favorite memory of the trip. Seeing Kailash from above – the beauty of the carvings – the size and scale of it all – and marveling at how this temple could be formed by digging downward from the spot where we were standing.

We returned to the hotel and headed straight for the bar. We could see a beautiful buffet set up on the lawn outside and decided to try it. It turns out we were the only people having dinner that night and there must have been four dinner buffet tables set up. We were given a menu with 25 items on it and were told we should select the dishes we wanted and the food would be brought to us. I jokingly said “we’ll have one of each” and somehow this became a reality. A taste of each and every dish on the menu was bought over, one by one, for what seemed like hours. It was the meal that never ended. Every dish was wonderful. We staggered back to our rooms after a wonderful day of exploring and eating.